Cracks of Doom
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Tim Kirk - The Cracks of Doom
The Cracks of Doom, also known as Sammath Naur, was the forge and workshop of Sauron tunneled deep into Mount Doom and open to its central fire. It was in these fiery chambers that Sauron forged the One Ring, and it was here that Frodo Baggins took the Ring to its destruction.
Etymology[edit | edit source]
Sammath Naur is a Sindarin name.
Sammath is collective plural of a word sam believed to mean "room, chamber"[1], cf. Quenya sambe. Note that in the earlier Etymologies the Noldorin reflex of sambe was given as tham.[2]
The latter word (naur) means "fire".[3]
Inspiration[edit | edit source]
The name Cracks of Doom is a wordplay on "cracke of Doome" (Macbeth; IV i 117) meaning the "sudden sound (crack) of the trump that announces the Last Day".[4] Here, Tolkien uses "crack" to mean "fissure".
See also[edit | edit source]
References
- ↑ Hisweloke Sindarin dictionary
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", entry STAB
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson), p. 38
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings" in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, pp. 767-8
